Diverse storage systems providing access to files on multiple storage devices are well known in the art of digital computing.
Microsoft Exchange Server® enables a user to work on emails in one computer and then move to another computer to continue the work, while the files on one computer are synchronized by the server to files on the other computer.
When a user is using a file on a first device and has to stop operation and move to another device to continue the operation, he typically wants to resume the operation on the other device from the exact point in the file where he stopped.
In some cases this is very easy. When writing a document or preparing a slide presentation on a first device, the user typically works until the end of the file on this device before moving to work on a second device. By asking the second device to jump to the end of the file, the user is directed to the exact place where he/she wants to resume work.
However, this is not the case in many other situations.
For example, when the user is reading a document, the synchronization does not provide a bookmark value that opens the file on a new computer from the point at which the file was last used. By “bookmark value” is meant any information that indicates the approximate current position (e.g. the address of the last-presented segment) of the user within the file upon interruption. Accordingly, a “bookmark” refers to any storage means for storing a bookmark value. By “interruption” is meant any operation that either temporarily suspends or permanently terminates presentation of a file.
In such situations, where the application allows reading and writing, the prudent user can manually create a bookmark in the text, by entering a bookmark value or a unique string of text. The user can then search for this bookmark on the new computer.
However, there are many cases where the operation of the user is “read only”. For example, reading a PDF document, viewing a movie, listening to a recorded lecture, listening to music, viewing a photo album and so on are some examples of read-only operations of a user.
A prior art system keeping a bookmark for continuity of using content on different devices is taught in US Patent Application Publication No. 20050157600 to Teicher.
The Teicher application discloses a storage medium that includes a content storage portion for storing content and a bookmark storage portion for storing a bookmark value. A player plays the desired content until an ending segment is reached, and sets the bookmark value in accordance with the ending segment, so that subsequent playing, on the same player or on a different player, starts in accordance with the ending segment. The starting segment is selected either by the player or by the storage medium.
As is explicitly described in the Teicher application, the storage medium, such as a CD, must be modified to physically store a bookmark value on a portion of the storage medium itself. This is a major disadvantage, as there are many cases in which the content is stored on a standard write-once CD that cannot be modified according to the Teicher application. The Teicher invention is incapable of keeping a bookmark in such cases.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have a system that allows a user to stop his/her work on a first device at any time and resume his/her work on a second device approximately from the same position in the file, while overcoming the disadvantages of prior art techniques and in addition to prior art techniques.